WASHINGTON IRVING MIDDLE SCHOOL TAKE HOME STATE ROBOTICS CHAMPIONSHIP

After outperforming 30 other teams, robotics students from Irving Middle School won both first and second place in the California High Desert Middle School League Championships, qualifying them to compete in the California State Vex Robotics Championships where they went on to win! Two other Irving teams took seventh and eighth place. The math, music and engineering magnet was also recognized by the Vex Corp. for excellence in robotics, a prestigious distinction awarded to only a handful of schools across the nation.In these gear-whirling, metal-clanking, basketball-like competitions, students design, build, program, and drive their mechanical convections for engineering honors. The robots must be able to function in both semi-autonomous and full autonomous modes. Each student is required to be a crack robotics engineer and mechanic, as well as a nimble driver.

Irving’s first-place team, called the “Kracken,” is made up of students Leonardo Francisco, Mathew Marz, Omar Salas, Daniel Solorzano and Sean Venadas. On Irving’s second place finishing team, named the “DSR-50,” members are Juan Buenostro, Oscar Cendejas, Anondra Chavez, Vanessa Dator, Gustavo Romero and Krystel Valencia.